Enhanced Coil Spring Modeling in Passenger Car Suspension for Improved Target Setting Process

The problem addressed in this work is how to formulate accurate targets for coil springs in passenger car suspensions to ensure that the required ride height and wheel rate are achieved. The issue arises because suspensions often tend to introduce significant spring deformations other than a purely axial compression. Although these effects are quite common, their influence on suspension performance is still not well understood. To this purpose, a new enhanced spring model is presented. The theory behind the model is explained and the relationship between spring and suspension performance discussed in detail. To validate formulations, a series of numerical simulations has been carried out demonstrating the model accuracy. Finally, a novel approach to spring target setting is proposed based on this advanced spring model.